Laloo whistles in the dark
MR Laloo Prasad Yadav’s volte-face on the creation of Vananchal should surprise no one except members of his own Rashtriya Janata Dal, who may not have been taken into confidence before the announcement was made.
Trouble in Gujarat BJP
IT is highly premature to see a brewing crisis in the Gujarat unit of the BJP in the wake of Mr Suresh Mehta’s resignation.
A technical initiative
ASK any engineering student what his or her future plan is, invariably the answer will be like this: efforts will be made to join some company or acquire an MBA degree.

Between BJP & Congress
by Kuldip Nayar
BOTH of India’s major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have missed the main point in their recent conclaves.
Long stretch of missed opportunities
by R.P. Sapru
THE debate in the 51st year of Independence largely reinforced the general belief that our political landscape is so much hemmed in by narrow sectarian concerns that there is little time for serious political debate on fundamental national issues.

. The fall of a protege by V. Gangadhar IT was like mighty Roman emperor Julius Caesar sacking his faithful aide, Mark Antony, and ordering him to be thrown to the hungry lions in the Roman coliseum. Antony was not tipped to succeed Caesar, but for long he had been the right hand man of the emperor. I thought of the Roman parallel after the abrupt sacking of 51-year old Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim by his mentor, strongman Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. When wife hogs headlines by I. M. Soni THE headline of a news-item announcing the death of the veteran Pakistani film producer-director, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, said, “Noorjehan’s former husband dead.”

75 Years Ago

Police exonerated
CALCUTTA: On the night of September 6th, a dacoity was committed in Charminair village in Faridpur district. The police arrived while it was going on, and arrested three of the dacoits.

Laloo whistles in the dark

MR Laloo Prasad Yadav’s volte-face on the creation of Vananchal should surprise no one except members of his own Rashtriya Janata Dal, who may not have been taken into confidence before the announcement was made. Encouraging debate and discussion on important issues within the party and consultation with the partners supporting the RJD Government in Bihar is not part of his style of functioning. The announcement means that Chief Minister Rabri Devi would have at least one party less on her side when the proposal for the creation of Vananchal comes up for discussion during a special session of the Bihar Assembly on September 18. Mrs Rabri Devi has no option but to listen to “her master’s voice”, as she has done all along ever since she was made a “dummy” Chief Minister when Mr Laloo Yadav was forced to spend some time in jail as the prime suspect in the multi-crore fodder scam. Of course, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha will, under no circumstances, be a party to the shooting down of the Vananchal proposal in the State Assembly. But what about the stand of the Congress, which is the main ally of the RJD Government? It is an open secret that without the support of the Congress the Rabri Devi Government would not survive for a single day. The Congress has been threatening from time to time to withdraw support but has not done so because it does not want to be seen on the side of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samata Party. However, the Vananchal issue may force the Congress high command to give the go-ahead to its Bihar unit to part company with Mr Laloo Yadav. The RJD President has done an about-turn on the creation of Vananchal because he knows that the days of the Rabri Devi Government are numbered. Even the opposition to the use of Article 356 for the dismissal of state governments by some allies of the BJP-led coalition at the Centre may not help extend the life of the Bihar Government.

Mr Laloo Yadav has realised that he is cornered and his stand on Vananchal is a desperate attempt to strengthen his hold on Central and North Bihar. In a manner of speaking, by reversing the party’s stand on the creation of a separate state comprising areas in the mineral-rich South Bihar, he has launched his party’s poll campaign even before the Government has been formally dismissed. Since the Pachmarhi Declaration has made it clear that the Congress would like to go it alone in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to regain its lost political base, it defies logic why it should continue to be seen on the side of the RJD. It is evident that the “Samson of Bihar” has lost his strength through years of misrule and is now whistling in the dark not to keep imaginary phantoms at bay but to avoid meeting his nemesis at the edge of the forest. He has raised the Vananchal issue not because he cares for the unity of Bihar but because he hopes to deflect public attention from the grounds — breakdown of law and order and rampant corruption — on which the Centre may recommend President’s rule in Bihar. Enoch Powell had once warned (rather threatened) that rivers of blood would flow through the streets of England if the entry of Asians was not stopped. Mr Laloo Yadav made a similar threat following Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s announcement that a decision on the dismissal of the Bihar Government would be taken soon. Too much innocent blood has already been spilled during the inglorious Laloo-Rabri rule in Bihar and the RJD President would only prove the charge that his party is made up of goons and criminals if he were to carry out his threat of creating chaos in the event of Central intervention. His bluff should be called. Bihar must be pulled out of the jaws of anarchy.

Trouble in Gujarat BJP

IT is highly premature to see a brewing crisis in the Gujarat unit of the BJP in the wake of Mr Suresh Mehta’s resignation. Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is right in asserting that Mr Mehta is no Shankersinh Vaghela and hence an open revolt and a possible split are not on the cards. The resignation is a result of pique and a gesture of solidarity with the supporters of a murdered leader in Kutch. This is the minimum he had to do to express his anger at the police inaction in tracing the killers, whom he suspects to be enjoying the patronage of a rival BJP leader. Mr Mehta has already said that he would continue to attend his office until his resignation is accepted by the Chief Minister and the latter has already made it clear that he has no such intention. Yet, Mr Mehta’s action has alarmed the central leadership of the BJP and received front page treatment in all newspapers. How to explain this differing perceptions?

Simple. Mr Mehta is no Vaghela and that is what makes his pointed protest a cause for concern. Unlike Mr Vaghela, he is not ambitious; it was as a compromise candidate, posing no threat to the established state leadership, that he was sworn in as Chief Minister in the initial days of the first major revolt. Two, he does not enjoy the degree of fierce loyalty that Mr Vaghela had built up for himself in the party during his long years as one of the top leaders. Mr Mehta is essentially a grassroots level worker, and not much known outside the Saurashtra region. And Mr Keshubhai Patel, Chief Minister, is the real heavyweight, a no-nonsense man with impeccable connections with top national leaders. Yet Mr Mehta has rebelled, exchanged hot words with his boss, sent his letter through a messenger and has so far refused to take it back. When a leader like him feels provoked to act, it is a wake up call; since this is the second time that a senior party man feels let down by the leadership of Mr Keshubhai Patel (the first time by Mr Vaghela), it clearly indicates that the state unit of the BJP has developed several creaky joints and finds it impossible to take team members along.

The Suresh Mehta episode has come at an awkward moment for the party as a whole. The central leadership has barely come out of the AIADMK bearhug, and is bracing itself for tough assembly elections in three key states. The survey it conducted has bad news for it. Rajasthan is lost, Delhi is a challenge (not a walkover), Madhya Pradesh is safe but the Congress is gaining strength. It is the time when the BJP has to put its best foot forward, every time, unerringly. The Gujarat is a bad slip up. That state is the jewel in the BJP crown, giving the party a two-thirds majority for the second time running and despite the Vaghela revolt. Now the state unit has blotted its record and also that of the party as a whole. It has added to the growing impression that the BJP is good at winning election in some states and not so good in running the government. That explains the grim mood in Delhi.

A technical initiative

ASK any engineering student what his or her future plan is, invariably the answer will be like this: efforts will be made to join some company or acquire an MBA degree. Very few students think of entering the teaching profession, and that is one reason why most of them do not aspire to become postgraduates in an engineering discipline of their choice. One does not have to make a thorough research to find out the factors behind the lack of interest in teaching as a career. The pay and perks offered by most private companies to an engineering graduate from a reasonably good institution even in the beginning are quite fabulous. Besides this, there are tremendous growth prospects, financially and otherwise. This is not true about the teaching profession. And one can hope to join it only after postgraduation. Even after acquiring a PhD degree —which is a must if one wishes to be a complete university or college teacher — one cannot think of getting the financial benefits available in industry under the circumstances. In fact, there is no comparison between the two areas. If this is the situation, why should one plan to become a teacher — a poor teacher, as he is treated by society? It is, therefore, not surprising if there is an acute shortage of engineering teachers. Those watching this unhealthy development paint a horrifying picture of the emerging scenario.

Viewed in this backdrop, the All-India Council for Technical Education’s Early Faculty Initiation Programme is a welcome move to arrest the trend. The AICTE idea is to have a network of centres to identify good scorers with a consistent record of 70 per cent or more marks and offer them a fellowship of Rs 10,000 per month in the final year of the graduation course. These graduates will be helped to pursue their postgraduation in certain top institutions, and after the completion of the course they will have to serve one of the designated centres of technical education for a period of at least three years. They will not have to worry about the expenses to be incurred at the postgraduation level. The AICTE, which will act as the facilitator, has finalised memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the IITs at Chennai and Kharagpur, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Roorki University and Anna University, initially, to play the role of “host” institutions for the selected students. The scheme, the brainchild of Prof Rame Gowda, Chairman of the AICTE, has certain inherent weaknesses which must be removed if the purpose is not only to lure the top scorers to the teaching profession but also to make the engineering institutions and the departments concerned of the universities more attractive in comparison to business houses. This will require the formulation of rules for a different salary structure for the teachers of technical courses in all the universities and colleges. The AICTE’s think-tank will have to work in cooperation with the UGC to achieve this objective. The present arrangement for similar pay-scales at every level for all the university and college teachers will have to be replaced with a more imaginative package. Only such a change can end the shortage of engineering teachers by reversing the trend in a decisive manner.

BETWEEN BJP & CONGRESS
How to reach consensus
by Kuldip Nayar

BOTH of India’s major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have missed the main point in their recent conclaves. They do not seem to realise that either of them is not in a position to form government on its own at the Centre in the forseeable future. In other words, neither the BJP nor the Congress can get the required 273 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the Lower House, in the next couple of elections.

For Congress leaders to say that they will go it alone means that they want the BJP-led coalition to continue. On the other hand, the BJP’s effort to put everything worthwhile on its own plate bodes ill for the allies. The voters in the country are divided on considerations of caste, community and province to such an extent that no ideology transcends them.

The Congress is becoming more and more acceptable as the days go by. But this is because there is no viable alternative to the BJP, which has lost its lustre. The Congress has a long way to go before it can get a majority in Parliament. There is no escape from a coalition government. The BJP recognised the fact when it adopted the national agenda in place of its own. But it is not imbibing the culture that is required for a coalition to be successful.

Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee got a lifetime’s chance when he became the Prime Minister. A liberal among communalists as he is, he could have moulded the BJP in his own cast. He would have faced several difficulties. But he did not even try. The result is that he only presides over a setup which the BJP hardcore runs in the real sense.

He could have built in certain fields a consensus, which his predecessors did. But Mr Vajpayee has no time for meaningful talks with the constituents in the coalition, much less with the parties in the Opposition. He has finished six months in office but has not convened a meeting of the National Development Council an apex economic body that includes Chief Ministers. Nor has he constituted the National Integration Council, a top body of eminent persons, leaders of political parties and ministers to look at political developments without the party pulls.

In fact, his party President Kushabhau Thakre has put the blame on the Opposition for not effecting the consensus. His grievance is that there is no agreement in opinion on the bomb and Kashmir. The fault is that of the government. It was bad enough for the BJP not to have consulted even the leader of the Opposition on nuclear tests. But it was rubbing salt on the wounds of the Opposition when Mr Vajpayee took no one during his visit to the Pokhran II site. Till today the BJP has neither invited nor allowed anyone from the Congress, the communists or other non-BJP parties to the place.

The fact is that the BJP wanted to parade that the bomb was its “achievement”. Home Minister L.K. Advani even said with bravado that the BJP alone had the courage to detonate the bomb, not the parties running the government before it. The courage does not mean exposing the country to the dangers of nuclear war. The retaliatory explosion by Pakistan shows how the governments before the BJP-led coalition were conscious of an atmosphere of insecurity they would create by taking the bomb out of the closet.

Even then there could have been some understanding in the country if the BJP had tried to take the Opposition parties into its confidence. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh has been holding a series of conferences with top American officials and giving the impression that the two sides have nearly reached the agreement. Why is the BJP initiating off his own bat such important issues as the bomb? It is an open secret that the BJP-led coalition is prepared to sign the CTBT. But it is afraid to approach the Opposition. Had there been a dialogue between the two, the agreement on the CTBT would have been easier to reach.

Why blame the Opposition on Kashmir? Nuclear tests have re-focused the world’s attention on the problem. There is fear abroad that if there is no rapprochement between the two, it can ignite nuclear fires in the subcontinent. What kind of consensus the BJP chief expects when the points of view are so divergent?

South African President Nelson Mandela’s reference to Kashmir, however reprehensible, was not unexpected. Practically every world leader is saying the same thing in private. In Mr Mandela’s case, the ineptness of our Foreign Office is also apparent. South Africa wanted our expertise on holding an international conference of the NAM scale. But our Foreign Office did not even care to acknowledge this. There was no effort to explain to Mr Mandela beforehand why the issue of Kashmir stood a better chance to get resolved bilaterally than with the help of outsiders.

In fact, one would like to know about the BJP-led coalition’s policy on Kashmir. Even Army commanders fighting militancy in the state have admitted that there has to be a political solution. Obviously, this means that people in the state have to be retrieved. By giving them powers they enjoyed after joining the Indian Union, there is a chance of winning them back. But the BJP wants to abolish Article 370, which gives a special status to the state.

Still there is no doubt that the different opinions on Kashmir, the bomb and the economy have to converge one day. The way to do is not to blame the Congress or other political parties, as the BJP is doing, but to seek their cooperation. This is not possible so long as the BJP is riding high horse. It must try to build a consensus.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in a well-written speech, has rightly pointed that she would not encourage shifting of alliances in the name of stability. But if compulsions of Indian politics are to be faced there is no alternative to alliances. Mr Mulayam Singh in UP, more than Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, is a reality, which cannot be denied. Their base may be backward classes or Muslims. But they count in their respective states and the Congress cannot shut its eyes or indulge in wishful thinking. Rebuilding the party may be necessary, as Mrs Sonia Gandhi has argued. But it will take time. What do people do in the meanwhile?

Probably, her calculations are that the manner in which the BJP is going down the hill will result in its defeat in the assembly elections in November in Delhi, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Congress will emerge victorious. She may turn out to be correct. But how does this help the Congress to come to power at the Centre? Sooner or later, it will have to accept the logic of coalition.

What both the BJP and the Congress, more so the former, have not realised is that they convey the type of message which make most people go away from them. They have to win them over. The rhetoric of the two parties has ceased to evoke a response. There is nothing new about them, neither in approach nor in their argument that they can deliver the goods. It is true that the Congress is gaining most of the ground that the BJP is losing. But it is not true that the Congress can capture power at the Centre on its own.

Too much emphasis on their own party’s strength will neither help the Congress nor the BJP. They have to convert themselves into platforms where the people of different persuasions can gather. The BJP is stymied because of its goal of Hindu Rashtra.

The Congress can provide the democratic front, particularly when the communists have offered their support to it. But the party has to learn the rudiments of coalition. To say that it is ready to fulfil its constitutional obligation and form a government if and when the Vajpayee ministry falls is not enough. It will have to convince the non-BJP parties that the Congress has shed arrogance and that it is willing to share power with others. The declaration that Mrs Sonia Gandhi will not be the Prime Minister will help. In any case, there is no danger to the BJP-led coalition till the budget session in 1999.

When wife hogs headlines
by I. M. Soni

THE headline of a news-item announcing the death of the veteran Pakistani film producer-director, Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, said, “Noorjehan’s former husband dead.”

It arrested my attention because it did not go well with me. Questions cropped up in my unsettled mind. Did the veteran Rizvi have no identity of his own? Was he known because he was married to the melody queen of Pakistan?

The body of the news-item itself proved that the seemingly trivial questions my ignorance raised were not without reason.

It recorded that 84-year-old Rizvi was the founder of the Pakistani film industry and “credited with pairing for the first time the hottest stars of the 1940s — Dilip Kumar and Noorjehan — in ‘Jugnu’.”

Having started his career in 1930, Rizvi had become a big name in the Bombay film industry. He directed hits like “Khandan” and “Zeenat”. The latter had a quawwali sequence that still interests the lovers of good lyrics and music.

The point that stood out like a sore thumb was: should we deny credit to the man with sterling antecedents simply because he happened to marry a glorified singer-actress?

The headline gave one the impression that Rizvi’s own standing was of little consequence, and that he had basked only in the reflected glory of his glamorous one-time wife. And thereby hangs another tale of star couples belonging to our own film industry.

A casual and quick survey yields revealing results about marital equations. One would face a dilemma as both spouses have had their share of the limelight. But could we say that the husband basked in the wife’s sunshine?

When Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia, he had already been called a “phenomenon”, “super star”. Dimple, contrarily, was a one-hit heroine, “Bobby” having proved a smashing screen buster.

Hypothetically, could we headline a story: Dimple’s husband joins Congress? That would be putting the cart before a royal buggy!

By a similar logic, Dilip Kumar married Saira Bano, more than 20 years his junior in age, when he was at the acme of his professional career, but his wife was not much of a star. She was known more as her mother’s daughter.

Could we, by any stretch of the imagination, say that Saira Bano, the well-known actress, marries Dilip Kumar, a Bombay-based actor?

However, there are two exceptions — Sunil Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan — which may prove that ladies (read wives) do come first.

The former could be placed in the category of the husband deriving identity from a more famous wife — the late Nargis. She had won laurels for “Mother India” when Dutt was only a struggling actor.

Amitabh too was struggling to woo success when “Guddi” had already become a hit. To my mind, there would be no justification for either of them to crib that his “Abhiman” was bruised, the wife stealing the headline.

The fall of a protege
by V. Gangadhar

IT was like mighty Roman emperor Julius Caesar sacking his faithful aide, Mark Antony, and ordering him to be thrown to the hungry lions in the Roman coliseum. Antony was not tipped to succeed Caesar, but for long he had been the right hand man of the emperor. I thought of the Roman parallel after the abrupt sacking of 51-year old Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim by his mentor, strongman Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The sacking came a day after the Prime Minister imposed rigid currency controls which isolated Malaysia from the global free market system.

For many Malaysians and the rest of South-East Asia, the sacking was a bolt from the blue. It came at a time when the country was preparing to host the 16th Commonwealth Games and receive Queen Elizabeth II for an official visit later in the month. Mr Mahathir Mohammad blamed Mr Anwar for the economic collapse of the country and also charged him with being involved in sex scandals.

As the sacking became more and more controversial, Mr Anwar, a conservative Muslim and father of six children, said he had undergone DNA tests to prove his innocence in a paternity suit filed against him. He complained that his former boss had threatened to get local prostitutes to testify against him. But Mr Anwar’s wife stood by him and told the media that she totally believed in her husband’s innocence. She accompanied him when he attended meetings and addressed Press conferences.

Most Malaysians believed that the sexual charges against Mr Anwar were fabricated by the Prime Minister who saw his deputy as a challenger to his position. Mr Mahathir had been in power for over 17 years and had not allowed any challenge to his supremacy in the party or the government. Challenging the sexual misconduct charges, the former Deputy Prime Minister, who also held the Finance portfolio, asserted, that he also could line up prostitutes and expose their links with several other ministers.

Ever since the South-East Asian region had been hit by financial crises of various dimensions, the Prime Minister saw to it that Mr Anwar was kept out of major economic decisions. The local currency, ringgit, and the markets had plummeted since the Asian economic crisis broke out in July, 1997. The Malaysian economy, which was steadily growing at an impressive 8 per cent, shrank to a level of less than 6 per cent and went into recession. The Prime Minister refused to accept the responsibility for the crisis. His former deputy was an ideal scapegoat.

Always sceptical of foreign investment and currency transactions, Mr Mahathir effectively took Malaysia outside the global system of free market economy. He replaced the existing system with a fight regimen of foreign exchange and other financial controls. These were completely against the policies favoured by Mr Anwar. He had wanted more liberal free market policies of fiscal restraint, higher interest rates and defence of the local currency. But the Prime Minister had been railing against free market speculation ever since the Asian economic crisis broke out. He asserted that a Western-style economic system would not help the nations of South-East Asia. Four years ago, the Prime Minister stated to the nation that too much of Western democracy could lead to moral decay, racial intolerance, the break up of joint families and even increased instances of homosexuality! However, Mr Mahathir balanced his attacks on the Western democratic system with exaggerated politeness in the case of businessmen and investors. But once Malaysia, like the other nations in the region, was swamped by the currency crisis, payment defaults and the flight of foreign capital, he came down heavily on speculators, investors, traders and “racist conspirators”. His special target of attack was well-known foreign exchange speculator, Mr George Soros. Mr Mahathir also appointed one of his favourites, former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, as Minister for Special Functions, particularly with regard to the national economy.

Perhaps, Mr Anwar should have fought back at this stage. But the happenings of the recent months had made him think of his boss as a maverick who would not act beyond a certain limit. The battle between the Malaysian Prime Minister and his deputy was one of image. Mr Anwar had always been portrayed by the international media as a cultured, suave, forward-looking and ideal candidate who could lead Malaysia to a bright future. Mr Mahathir, unfortunately, did not have that kind of image. Awkward-looking in front of TV cameras and often inarticulate, he was the ideal old school politician. But, then, as someone who had ruled the nation with an iron hand for 16 years, he was expected to strike hard. He came down heavily on a rival who was seen as a liberal and dynamic alternative. Will such a move boomerang? We have to wait and see.

Long stretch of missed opportunities
by R.P. Sapru

THE debate in the 51st year of Independence largely reinforced the general belief that our political landscape is so much hemmed in by narrow sectarian concerns that there is little time for serious political debate on fundamental national issues. Politics in our country has regrettably degenerated into a game of one-upmanship that thrives on pulling down someone and anyone rather than a positive contribution of thought, let alone action. Consequently, the government of the day was pulled down and an expensive general election held. The only agenda that the incumbent government, as indeed the one that preceded it, could address during its short stint was the question of survival! The tragedy is compounded by the fact that the successor government appears to be similarly handicapped, perhaps in added measure.

The mid-term general election forced by circumstances have left a mark of its own. For the first time a BJP-led government was installed at the Centre though only after some major hiccups. However, much against the fond hope of the people, the nation continues to suffer political uncertainty. Even while the secular card is played, the blow for Hindutva has also misfired. By no stretch of imagination can anyone be persuaded to believe that the banning of skirts and ties in schools, or reading treason in escapades of love, or permitting sale of liquor next to a church are priority areas of national concern. Narrow personal agendas continue to obliterate national interests. In Parliament and legislatures, political debate has yielded place to lung power or worse. Unfortunately, our politicians have acquired neither the wily acumen of a Chanakya nor the political sagacity of a Nehru, Patel or Shastri.

The state of economy continues to be a major concern. The bureaucracy appears hell bent upon holding back progress. The recent Siachen episode is an example of the criminal apathy of the bureaucracy. In the maze of collective responsibility of committees, no one is responsible. Political interference is a convenient peg to hang the hat of incompetence on.

The much-trumpeted poverty alleviation policies and programmes have failed to improve the lives of the intended recipients. If all the money that has been earmarked for such programmes over the years had been actually handed over to the “intended” recipients, poverty would have been banished from this country by now. In reality our bureaucrats and politicians have never had their heart in it. Even members of the underprivileged communities who have made good prefer to nurse the superiority gained rather than contribute to the uplift of the poor. We have not even developed any measures of productivity for public expenditure (taxpayer’s money). And there is hardly any reprimand or punitive action for the criminal offence of wastage of public funds.

The all-pervasive hydra-headed corrupt practices have overtaken most of the institutions of governance. Embezzlement and wastage of public funds have made a nonsense of poverty alleviation programmes. Taxpayer’s money is expended as personal largesse such that a wholly mistaken belief has struck roots in the public mind. The concept of democracy has been so distorted as to suggest that dispensation of largesse, whether in the form of securing jobs or influencing transfers, or securing a gas connection or even allotment of government accommodation, is an essential element of the institution itself. It is no wonder that the youth have lost confidence in the future. Some have graduated from rowdyism to terrorism of one kind or another, many have taken to drugs. The recipe for the growth of fundamentalism is made. It is this disillusionment of young persons which is the most ominous sign on the future horoscope of the nation.

Industry has failed to play the role of an engine for the economy. There is very little innovation in industry. Most investors are looking for a quick-fix with little concern for the nation. The concept of a global village provides a handy excuse. Concern for the quality of processes and products is dismissed as an avoidable hindrance to making a quick buck rather than a shrewd business faith if only to promote self-interest and long-term gain. No wonder so many industries soon turn sick. Collaboration between industry and institutes of science and technology is just beginning to emerge, though still hesitantly. Most investors look for low risk investments; there are hardly any takers for adventure. Tax avoidance by industry and traders has become an accepted way of life. Responsibility towards the nation is dismissed as anachronistic; but the demand for privileges never ceases.

Public speakers never tire of reminding us of our rich heritage, as though that itself is some magic wand that will propel us forwards under its own steam. The past is indeed of relevance to nurse self-confidence and reinvigorate efforts for future action. However, the past cannot substitute for the future as then it will remain like the dream that dissipates on waking. There is an old saying: “Acorns were good until bread was made”. It is no use offering acorns to people who have tasted bread.

The standards of education, for those that are able to gain access to it, have declined so abysmally as to have made the whole exercise counter-productive. Whatever the current education system may be achieving otherwise, it certainly stifles imagination and initiative. Having withdrawn research from the universities, the students are denied even the intellectual challenge of engaging in such activities. At the same time the fountainheads that deliver the essential human resource required for fostering research, so essential for development, have more or less dried up. Only a few privately run institutions help the elite to maintain a forward momentum.

Law enforcement has been so enfeebled by political manipulation that the agencies concerned have become a laughing stock. Stories of recruits to the service working as domestic help while ostensibly engaged in security duty, or engaging in strong-arm tactics at the behest of the wards of their charges make pathetic reading. It is no surprise that these persons, suffering as they are from an identity crisis, are unable to perform their assigned duties. Some of them, understandably, vent their frustrations on hapless victims in the dark corners of safe houses: the detention centres.

To break free from this dismal scenario, a window of opportunity was provided by the public demonstration of the technological power gained by the country when the nuclear tests were conducted in May this year. Subsequent events have only helped to fritter away the advantage. The most valuable fallout of the May demonstration could have been to galvanize the people onto a new course of action away from the earlier drift and preoccupation with trivia. Merely testing a weapon that has been lying in the armoury for quite some time is meaningless by itself. After all, the weapons would not have ceased to exist if no tests had been conducted: The untested weapons could still have been used in times of desperation. The importance of the tests was, therefore, in the implied symbolism. As in the past, we have once again failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

We can of course, produce data indicating improvement in some of the statistical parameters such as the Green Revolution and consequent food security, the modest growth of industry, the numerical strength existing from the universities and professional institutions and the increasing size of the middle class etc. What these data hide are the fact that vital parameters of human development have not even touched vast segments of the population. The most pressing problem of population control has not been properly addressed by the political leadership. Alleviation of rural poverty is trumpeted at each election time but forgotten soon after. Illiteracy abounds while subsidised higher education has only helped to create a large pool of unemployable gentry. Potable drinking water is not available to the majority. Concepts of personal hygiene have not reached large segments of the population, with the result that pestilence continues to claim many lives. The most visible economic development is in urban areas, but even here the quality of life for the majority has only degraded.

Successive political leaderships have failed to return the trust of the people. In a single-minded pursuit of self-interest, the governments have caused or permitted the erosion of several vital institutions that nurse the health of a nation. In place of aggressive policies to promote human development, public attention has been diverted to trivia like mandir, caste reservations, subsidies, sharing of national resources and the like. The long and tortuous years of struggle for freedom were endured by successive generations to ensure for all our people freedom from want, ignorance and superstition. Regretfully, the report card does not assign any credits to successive political managers for the 51 years that have gone by.

75 YEARS AGO
Police exonerated

CALCUTTA: On the night of September 6th, a dacoity was committed in Charminair village in Faridpur district. The police arrived while it was going on, and arrested three of the dacoits. Subsequently, villagers assembled and charged the police with the dacoity, overpowered them and severely assaulted them and kept them confined until they were rescued by another police party on the following day.

Subsequently, a statement appeared in newspapers to the effect that the police had been torturing people in Charminair and since then articles have appeared in other newspapers containing allegations against the police. The government of Bengal have today issued a communique on the subject, in the course of which they state that they have received full information from the District Magistrate, Faridpur as to the nature of charges and the results of his local inquiry.

The communique states that on the date of the dacoity the Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police were engaged, dealing with some disturbance between Muhammedans and Namasudars.

The Deputy Magistrate and the Deputy Superintendent of Police left Faridpur for Charminair and left the village after midnight on the following day.

The Superintendent of Police visited Charminair later.

The Deputy Magistrate who had been deputed by the District Magistrate to make further investigations regarding the use of firearms on the occasion of the dacoity was in the village for the second time. On September 8th it was found that a large proportion of inhabitants of the village had absconded and as they remained away, the police were withdrawn.

On the following day, the Superintendent left with an extra force accompanying him, leaving only one Sub-Inspector to complete the attachment of property and investigation. Before leaving Faridpur, to hold his inquiry, the District Magistrate had recorded the statement of all those accused in the Faridpur jail with reference to the allegation of ill-treatment against the police.